ARC Review & Exclusive Excerpt: HE WILL BE MY RUIN by K. A. Tucker

A woman who almost had it all . . .

On the surface, Celine Gonzalez had everything a twenty-eight-year-old woman could want: a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a job that (mostly) paid the bills, and an acceptance letter to the prestigious Hollingsworth Institute of Art, where she would finally live out her dream of becoming an antiques appraiser for a major auction house. All she had worked so hard to achieve was finally within her reach. So why would she kill herself?

A man who was supposed to be her salvation . . .

Maggie Sparkes arrives in New York City to pack up what’s left of her best friend’s belongings after a suicide that has left everyone stunned. The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a lethal cocktail of pills and vodka, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers a scandalous photograph in a lock box hidden in Celine’s apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with. The man she never told anyone about, not even Maggie. The man Celine believed would change her life.

Until he became her ruin.

On the hunt for evidence that will force the police to reopen the case, Maggie uncovers more than she bargained for about Celine’s private life—and inadvertently puts herself on the radar of a killer. A killer who will stop at nothing to keep his crimes undiscovered.

Genre: Adult Murder Mystery/Suspense!

Pages: 352

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Having never read a murder mystery type of book, I didn’t know what to expect. I did know that I’ve been wanting to read a book by K.A. Tucker because I have heard nothing but good things about her books! I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every part of this book! It was such a refreshing read, and different from any other book I have read.

I was INSTANTLY hooked from the prologue. It starts off on December 22nd, and is only a page and a half! It was so captivating! The first chapter starts out shortly after Maggie arrives at New York (mid-November) to pack her recently passed best friends belongings. Though the police thinks it was an apparent suicide, but Maggie suggested otherwise. She knew Celine since they were little, and even though Celine had been through a lot, she was normally happy, driven, and positive person.

I LOVED Maggie. I felt like I could really relate to her a lot. She's stubborn, strong, determined, and an overall great heroine for a story like this to have. For work, she's a humanitarian who loves to give back to different countries, but in her personal life, she's a little more closed off. She also suffers with a bit of anxiety, which I'm sure we can relate to at some point in our lives! She also is willing to go above and beyond for the people she cares about.

As Maggie stays in Celine's apartment to gather her belongings, she finds a few of Celine's diaries that were hidden inside her closet. The best friend she once knew and loved had so many hidden secrets that she kept from everyone. This part confused me quite a bit because Celine was like a sister to Maggie, and Rosa, (Celine's mom and Maggie's nanny), pretty much raised Maggie like her own daughter, and the things that were revealed in Celine's diaries made it seem like she didn't know much about them at all. After reading these diaries, she decides to hire a private investigator to dig a little more into Celine's case. More and more is unraveled with the case throughout each chapter and the people Maggie thought she could trust, she could no more.

Since Maggie was new to the area and meeting everyone for the first time, I loved how we could sort of feel them out at the same time she was. With all the clues that came in, I felt like sort of a detective too; I wanted to piece everything together to find out what really happened to Celine!

I would also like to point out the TWISTS in this book!! I thought I knew who was behind it all from the beginning (a little disappointment mingled its way into me), but then I realized how horrible my detective skills were, and was thrown in a complete different direction and my disappointment dissolved instantly!

I had such a great time finishing this book, and I would recommend this book to everyone!! I'm so glad that this was my first "murder mystery", and now it definitely won't be my last.

If you're looking for romance, there's not a whole lot of that in this book. It's more of a suspenseful thriller filled with a lot of twists and turns, and I can guarantee you won't be disappointed after reading HE WILL BE MY RUIN!!

A big thanks to Atria Books for sending me this insanely great book!

Look, I’m just…” I stare at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes lined with bags, my skin sallow, my hair matted. I look like someone who sat in bed for twenty-four hours, eating cold pizza from the box I had delivered last night and polishing off a bottle of vodka, all while reading the deepest and darkest thoughts from the last fifteen years of Celine Gonzalez’s life. Discovering things that I could have happily gone the rest of my life without knowing.

Which is exactly what I’ve done.

I can barely keep my eyes open and yet I know that sleep will not grant me a reprieve. “I’m dealing with a few private matters.”

“Well, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to fit you in when you decide that you’re ready.”

“You will, because your boss wants my money.” I hang up before I hear her snippy answer and stare at the journal in my hands.

I was torn between starting from the latest diary first and easing myself in with the oldest one, afraid that I wasn’t ready for what might lie within those last pages. That I wasn’t ready to witness just how Celine had lost herself.

And then I picked up a pink book with butterflies on it—the earliest dated journal—and read a thirteen-year-old Celine recount her major crush on my boyfriend at the time: a tall, gangly guy named Jordan who kissed her behind our house one day while I was changing into my bathing suit upstairs. She felt so guilty, she couldn’t sleep for a week. Through tears, I laughed—because I hadn’t even given that guy a moment’s thought in years—and I knew then that starting at the beginning of Celine’s story was the only way to do this.

And so I did, living the past fifteen years through Celine’s eyes, since the days she and Rosa still lived with me. It wasn’t hard to follow along. She dated every single entry. Some days she didn’t have a lot to say. Other days she’d fill an entire page, even writing along the margin. She seemed to follow a simple rule as the years progressed: one page per day, no more.

So many days.

So many confessions.

So many things that made my heart swell.

And so many that made my heart bleed with pain.

Born in small-town Ontario, K.A. Tucker published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.